Rail track crossings are installed across railway tracks in order to accommodate for road traffic and the like. Conventionally, railway crossings have been formed by building up the road to either side of the rail track and between the rails, such that a vehicle can pass over the rail track with minimal disturbance to the vehicle. Spacing is provided between the road material and the rails to each side of the rail to enable safe passage of the rail vehicle over the crossing. However a difficulty with this arrangement arises from the circumstance that when it becomes necessary to maintain the rails by a grinding action the machinery required to effect this grinding action must be able to access all of the active surfaces of the rail. In addition at times it becomes necessary to re-tamp the rail track to ensure that the track remains level to avoid derailment. Therefore when it becomes necessary to service a rail track which is associated with a rail track crossing of the form described above, it is necessary to uplift or remove all of the road works associated with the crossing in order that the rails of the rail track can be accessed for grinding and that the sleepers supporting the rail track can be accessed for tamping purposes. This involves a considerable disruption to the both the road and rail traffic past the crossing.
Alternative arrangements have been suggested for forming a rail track crossing which does not involve the building up of roadway and one example of this is a system marketed in Germany under the trade mark STRAILS by the company Gummieeik Kraiiberg Elastik GmbH while another system has been marketed in the UK marketed under the trade mark HOLDFAST™ by a British company Rose Hills Ltd. A difficulty with such rail track crossings arises from the failure of them to be able to accommodate for extreme loadings which can be asserted upon them as the result of the road traffic and the rail traffic to which they are subjected.
The discussion throughout this specification, of the background and prior art to the invention is intended only to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. It should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to was part of the common general knowledge in Australia as at the priority date of the application.